Grade: C+
Synopsis: During World War II, a submarine captain (Cary Grant) finds his mission complicated by Japanese fighters, depth charges, and a crewman’s appendectomy.
Destination Tokyo is very reminiscent of Warner Brothers’ Action in the North Atlantic (1943) which came out earlier the same year. Both were even nominated for the same Academy Award (best original story) though Tokyo is the weaker of the two.
Despite his urbane manner being ill suited to military films, Cary Grant does a fine job carrying the picture. Here, he’s the ideal captain, weathering storm after storm, be it Japanese bombers, depth charges, or even a crewman’s rush appendectomy, Grant’s character is unflappable, with nary a hair out of place.
The supporting players are solid, with some of the cast of Action in the North Atlantic playing nearly identical roles in this film. John Forsythe even makes his first credited appearance in a small part. Unfortunately, unlike Action, Tokyo doesn’t work as well as an ensemble film, and drags whenever Grant isn’t on screen. Further, the script is quite preachy, with several characters delivering propaganda-laced monologues about the evils of the Japs, which only serve to further drag down the story.
Ultimately, fans of war pictures, or of Grant, will find Destination Tokyo worth a look, but others would be better off watching the grittier, superior, Action in the North Atlantic.
